


It Started With a Dream

by DaRainbowCat



Category: A Heist With Markiplier, Markiplier Egos, Who Killed Markiplier? (Web Series), jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: A Fluffy Cat - Freeform, A heist with Markiplier - Freeform, Chronic Tinnitus (I swear this is relevant), Darkiplier - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, I Don't Know How To Make Proper Tags, Jacksepticeye egos, Jameson Jackson - Freeform, Markiplier - Freeform, Markiplier egos - Freeform, Reader Thinks They're Going Crazy, Who Killed Markiplier - Freeform, antisepticeye, reader - Freeform, wilford warfstache - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-13 13:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21494959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaRainbowCat/pseuds/DaRainbowCat
Summary: You are a scientist who loves watching Markiplier and Jacksepticeye. What happens, though, when rational science goes out the window, and you start seeing the seemingly made-up characters you love to watch?
Relationships: Darkiplier/Reader, Reader/darkiplier
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23





	1. Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is an introduction. A normal introduction. Nothing abnormal here! Nope, there's definitely nothing weird in this short introduction chapter!

You wake up to the sound of your cat screaming at the front door. It was three in the morning, and you were more than tired. Exhausted didn't even cut it, there had to be a different word to describe this extreme fatigue, but you were too mentally groggy to think too hard about it. You stumbled out of bed, using your hands to guide yourself through the dark and towards the front door. As you walked slowly through the darkness, your cat continued to scream, never ceasing its need to go outside. Once you got there and let out your cat, your cat immediately ran outside. Of course, you didn't even close the door, because not two seconds later your cat was back inside, satisfied. Your cat briefly rubbed your leg in appreciation before you went and got started on your day.

This was what happened every morning, you had a routine. Let out your cat at precisely three o'clock in the morning, get breakfast, get dressed for work, and leave at around four forty-five. You were an important member to your little town's society, you were a resident scientist. The community you lived in was situated near the east coast of the United States, not too far inland, and you had traveled there in order to study the environmental factors affecting the unique ecosystem. The long-winded answer you gave was one that seemed to always satisfy the residents of your town, normally given when you were witnessed jumping for joy over a seemingly normal bug (it was only one time!). As you shouldered on your jacket, you popped in your headphones and played the new video Markiplier had put out yesterday.

There were a couple things you loved: your cat, your work, gaming, Jacksepticeye, and Markiplier. You didn't really have time to game nowadays, but before you had started working, Jacksepticeye and Markiplier had introduced you to the wonderful world of FNAF, Undertale, Amnesia, and more! It was nice to be able to watch Jack and Mark's videos when you didn't have time to actually game. You had even started to get into the lore of their channels, featuring characters like Chase Brody, Darkiplier, Jameson Jackson, Googleplier, Antisepticeye, and more!

You said bye to your cat and your empty house as you walked out the door, Mark's video still playing, and began your usual day.

* * *

The thing was, today was not a usual day. You didn't know it at the time, but things were going to change from here on out. In fact, it already _had _begun to change. That change was not noticed by your neighbors or your cat, and you **certainly **could not have noticed, you had already forgotten! The spark of change had been forgotten like a dream is forgotten upon awaking. Well, that simile isn't so abstract, as the catalyst of change _was _a dream.


	2. The Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You’ve been having strange dreams lately, and odd occurrences are beginning to happen.

You collapse on the bed after a long day in the field. It's not that you don't love your job, you do, but it's tiring after days like these. You were running around all day collecting samples, and it didn't help that you didn't sleep very well the night before. You couldn't place why, though. You brushed it off, knowing how crazy your cat can be in the middle of the night. 

You groaned as you realized that you still needed to get ready for bed, and that you couldn't just go to sleep right now. It was a strange time to get to sleep (at a mere six forty-five in the evening), but you had to get up very early. Your schedule would change every so often, but this was how your sleep schedule was for the time being.

As a change of pace, you had had dinner out in the town on the way back, so that was checked off. All you had to do was check your cat's food and water dishes (along with their litter box), take a shower, and get dressed for bed. Easy, you could do all of that in twenty minutes, which you promptly did.

It was nice to finally let yourself settle under the covers of your bed, and just drift off to sleep. The normal routine for bed, though, didn't happen. What did happen was you staying awake, still extremely tired, while this incessant ringing never ceased in your ears. This happened occasionally, and you could normally tune it out on a day-to-day basis, but not when you couldn't get to sleep. You resorted to watching one of Mark's old videos, "Raspy Hill", in order to tune out the noise. You had lived with chronic tinnitus since you were a teenager, and you've learned to cope. Today, however, was a different story. Your normal escape from the constant high-pitched noise did not help one bit, and you were desperate for sleep.

You even tried getting a middle of the night snack, to no avail. Never before had this noise been so bad, and so constant! It was annoying how long this noise had gone on, normally it would have stopped or been drowned out when you watched the video. 

Deciding just to get in bed and wait it out, you stumbled over to your room.

You did not get to your bed.

Your exhaustion overtook you and you fell upon your chair in the living room. 

As the tendrils of sleep overtook you, you could still clearly hear the constant ringing.

* * *

The darkness of sleep comforted you, as the ringing subsided. You were happy to finally get to sleep, but your mind was hazy, so you just had a general sense of comfort and happiness. It was a nice change from the constant ringing, and from the hectic schedule of your work. Sleep was a welcome relief from your busy life.

You always loved dreaming. It was a nice, calm blanket of comfort that you could look forward to at the end of the day. You could never remember your dreams, however, but you always knew that they were calm and comfortable.

Suddenly, you were thrust into a world of ever-changing scenery. It morphed from a colorless, empty box, to a galaxy, to every matter in between, all flashing across your eyes like an ever-changing kaleidoscope. Faster and faster it flickered, becoming dizzyingly monogamous, everything blurring together into a solid, rainbow-colored cacophony.

Until it stopped.

You were in a moonlit forest, surrounded by towering, spindly trees. After a moment's hesitation to gather your bearings, you began walking. Tree after spindly tree passed you as you walked, never tiring, into the heart of the forest. You didn’t know how you knew that, but it just seemed right. It seemed planned, your course. You had never been here before. You didn’t know why you had to continue walking towards the center, but in you had to go. Nothing changed as you walked, no shrubbery, no noises (apart from your own), no people, nothing. You were afraid to speak in this strange environment, for something weighed down on you. You just couldn’t speak in this place, you knew it in your gut. It was an invisible force weighing you down, preventing you from speaking or deviating from your course.

You are terrified.

You continue walking as you take in your never-changing environment.

You never stray from your original course.

You hear footsteps beside you.

You hear them stop, but you do not.

You try to run but can’t, your legs will not allow you to deviate from their assigned tempo.

The footsteps resume, closer.

There are two of them, on either side of you.

They are getting closer.

Closer.

Closer.

They are beside you now.

You can see them out of the corners of your eyes, but cannot look at them head-on, for fear of turning your back on the other.

You do not stop walking.

They look like formless masses of darkness, soaking up the moonlight.

They do not seem able to get any closer, but they try anyways.

The ringing begins.

The one that plagues you in your waking hours.

They are shaking with anger now, trying to get to you.

They cannot.

You continue walking.

And walking.

And walking.

You are in your house, your living room to be exact.

You feel as though you have awoken in the middle of sleepwalking, fighting to stay awake, but why do you fight?

Your living room has its lights on, despite it being dark outside.

A man in a white suit sits in your chair.

He moves his eyes from the window to yours, and stands.

“Good morning.”

You are awake in your bed.


	3. The Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why, how can a day at the lab be bad?

The dream was still vivid in your mind's eye, haunting you. The man, however, seemed to have no facial features. You knew who it was, however, since the update he was in had come out not a few weeks before. This update had come in Mark's newest installation of his ongoing lore, A Heist with Markiplier. You had gone through all of the nuanced endings easily, even cracking Darkiplier's secret code. 

And that was where you had seen him before, with his updated look.

_ Well I'll take that as a sign that I've been watching too many scary Markiplier videos,  _ you thought to yourself as you pushed off the covers to your bed. It took a little bit of effort, considering how neatly, and snugly, the covers were tucked in around you. It felt like you were waking up in a hotel bed, the covers still fresh and stiff, but nonetheless comforting. It was then you realized what had transpired last night. 

Immediately you jumped out of bed, your previous drowsiness gone in a flash. Quickly, you ran to the living room to see it... Completely and utterly normal. The chair you had fallen asleep in, and where a certain person had sat in your dream, was perfectly normal. The fluffy pillow you kept there was fluffed and neat, no indication that you, in your exhausted state, had slept there. It was as if nothing had happened last night, and you  _ knew  _ that you did not imagine the events that had occurred the night before. In fact, it was as if everything had been straightened out in your living room. You checked the other rooms in your house and none were as neat as your living room (not saying that your house was messy, but you just couldn't afford to straighten that one particular pillow every day! You were a busy scientist, after all). Your bed, however, was still suspiciously neat, even after you jumped out of bed not two minutes before. 

You checked the windows, the doors, every place that you may have forgotten to close and/or lock. You thought it may be some strange burglar who, instead of robbing people, cleaned their target's houses?

_ No, that's definitely too absurd to actually happen,  _ you thought to yourself,  _ Or maybe I slept-cleaned? I've slept-walked before, why not slept-cleaned? _

You contemplated what had happened while going through your morning routine. Your cat had heard you begin to walk around the house and promptly began screaming to be let out. Your cat's schedule deviated from your own, occasionally. Sometimes he would want to go out right as you got up, or before. Nevertheless, he screamed. You let him out absentmindedly, still thinking about the events the night before. It just didn't make sense!

You waited for your cat to come in before making breakfast, still lost in thought. You didn't even notice the familiar ringing in your ears that plagued your waking, and now dreaming, hours. As you ate your breakfast (instant oatmeal with a banana), you happened to glance at your clock. It read 9:34 in bright red letters. You jumped up in shock at how late you had slept in and immediately started gathering your stuff. You had important calculations to run at your little lab in the forest, and you couldn't just sit around here! Your instruments were all located at that remote little home away from home, you couldn't run your data through without them. You knew that the calculations would take you the better of the day, and you had already slept in enough. As you bustled out the door, you made sure your cat's food and water bowls were full. While closing the door, you couldn't help but notice a light had gone out in your living room. Specifically, the one above your chair.

_ That's one more thing I have to do today.  _ You sighed to yourself as you shut and locked your door.

* * *

Getting to your little lab was a journey in it of itself. It was relatively close, yes, but it was deep in the forest. Going from the little neighborhood near the town where your house was situated, to the winding depths of the forest was a shock for most colleagues you brought over on occasions. You were used to it, but it was treacherous in bad conditions.

This was exactly what you were hoping  _ wouldn’t  _ happen. You hadn’t checked the forecast on the way out of the house, due to you having slept in, and it began pouring halfway to your lab. The twisting roads were slick with rain, and your visibility was limited. The sky had become dark in an instant, the heavens suddenly opening with a torrential rainfall. 

“Maybe I should pull over and wait for the storm to let up.” You thought aloud, after having driven in the awful storm for a couple terrifying minutes.

In the end, you decided to pull over. You were only fifteen minutes away from your lab, but that was in good conditions! You sat in your stopped car, watching the downpour. You happened to glance to your rear-view mirror and saw a man in a white suit.

Immediately you whipped around to look out the back window, but there wasn’t anyone there. You checked the rear-view mirror once again, thinking it may have been a smudge or mark, but there wasn’t anything there. You stilled your beating heart as you frantically looked around, still suspicious.

“Why would anyone be out in this weather?” You pondered aloud, after you had calmed down.

You were much more calm, but still cautious. After making sure you had your doors locked, you pulled out your phone. The ringing in your ears was more noticeable, but still quiet due to the rain outside. Your phone showed no signal, and you knew you had to get to your lab if you didn't want to be a sitting duck. Who knew who decided to wander around the woods, like that creepy guy in the white suit? It was better to get to your lab, where you could easily call the police if you needed it.

The rain had let up a little bit, so you decided to begin driving to your lab. You got there pretty quickly, all things considered. The rain was letting up gradually, so it still drenched you when you made a mad dash to the lab from your car. Unlocking the door and rushing inside, you were greeted by the many hums and bumps of your lab. All of these sounds were comforting to you, since they drowned out the ringing most of the time. You slung your bag and jacket on a coat rack that was near the door, locked it, and walked to your desk. 

For the next few minutes, you were engrossed with your work: tinkering with computers, measuring liquids, and comparing data. You didn't even notice the ringing suddenly dissipate around the time when you were quickly typing away at a computer.

"Would this explode if I touched it?" A voice behind you broke the silence, causing you to whip around with an alarmed shriek, readying to defend yourself.

A man stood next to a table, pointing to a centrifuge while staring at you. You couldn't even utter a coherent word as you stood up and started backing away. Standing there was a man who _you did not know, _who, in all honesty, _shouldn't be here. _You locked the door! Did he get in before you got here, and was just waiting for you to get here? Your mind was a whirlwind of information, possible theories, how to handle this situation. _You are a scientist! You cannot deal with this intruder! _And in a last ditch effort to save yourself from this intruder, you ran.

You didn't get far, but hey, it was worth a shot.

You were back in your chair, sitting at the computer you had just ran off from not a minute before.

"Now why were you running?" The man was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room, still facing you. 

"What-what just happened? Are you-oh no are you holding me hostage? I don't have much aside from my equipment please don't-" You finally sputtered out a series of anxiety-ridden questions and pleas before the man cut you off, confused.

"Hostage? Me? Why, that's just ridiculous, why would I do that to you? Do you think I'm crazy or something?" The man laughed heartily, your heart sinking.

_ This man is definitely crazy, _ you thought to yourself.

The man locked eyes with you before saying, "Hey! That's not very polite! I mean, I am maybe a little but..." The man thought for a second, then continued, "That's not the point! I was just stopping by because I noticed you had piqued a certain someone's interest! I wanted to give you a few pointers to his temperament, so you could at least, you know, have a chance!" He laughed again.

"What is going on? Who are you? Who is this person you're talking about?"

"Oh I'm just messing with you (Y/n), you know that lately he's been a little... soft." The man looked around anxiously before continuing. "But anyways-Wait. What? You don't recognize me?" He stared at your bewildered face, his face mirroring your feelings (minus the intense fear).

"Why, this just won't do! I need to introduce myself once again!" The man stood up. "My name is Wilford Warfstache! A pleasure to meet you again!" He was suddenly shaking your hand before sitting back down again, smiling broadly.

"Wait, Wilford? You-but you're a fictional character? How-how are you here?" You held your head in your hands, contemplating whether or not you were going insane.

"Hey, you are not going crazy! I know that for a fact, I happen to be an expert on the matter! Wait."

You couldn't believe what was happening. How could you not have recognized him? He donned the trademark pink mustache and suspenders, along with a dress shirt and pants. What was going on? You stood up and walked over to him, Wilford not noticing you get up as he was deep in thought, and poked him on the shoulder. He became startled and let out a few quick curses, while you quickly backed up in shock.

"You're real?" This was so confusing for you, everything you believed about Mark's series had been thrown out the window.

"Why of course I am!" Wilford brushed himself off before standing up and looking at the centrifuge once again.

"That won't explode, if that's what you're wondering."

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on Archive of Our Own, so I hope everything doesn't randomly crash. I thought of this idea a while back, and thought I would try writing it real quick (maybe not quick? But you get the gist). I hope you like this!


End file.
